Abstract
Animal welfare remains a contemporary issue in livestock development as World Organization for Animal Health stresses its importance in the livestock trade. Key elements of good animal welfare include animals being healthy, comfortable, well-nourished, safe, not suffering from unpleasant states such as pain, fear, and distress, and expressing behaviours that are important for their physical and mental health. These are important for the high performance of animals in terms of productivity and product quality. Given the importance of animal welfare in enhancing livestock productivity, quality, food safety, and economic returns, the study aimed to identify the aspects of animal welfare that need more attention among the Zambian smallholder livestock farmers and determine whether the current policy and legal frameworks governing animal welfare are adequate. Using data collected from 271 smallholder households, the study found that routine management practices such as dipping animals, branding, castration, and vaccination were the major animal welfare concerns that needed more attention. Therefore more efforts and extension services should also be dedicated to addressing these concerns. Furthermore, the policy framework guiding animal welfare is inadequate as particular welfare concerns such as housing and nutrition are not well covered. This calls for the revision of the policy framework to incorporate all aspects of animal welfare.
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The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
The authors wish to acknowledge Indaba Agricultural Policy Research Institute (IAPRI) for the support rendered during data collection and the respondents who willingly shared the information. In addition, the authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments, which led to improving the article.
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Both authors contributed to the study conception and design. Mary Lubungu prepared instruments for data collection and collected the data. Cyprain Gwan Njei conceptualized the study, performed the data analysis, and wrote the first draft. Both authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript, and read and approved the final manuscript.
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Njei, C.G., Lubungu, M. Animal welfare analysis: a case of smallholder farmers in Zambia. Trop Anim Health Prod 54, 202 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-022-03208-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-022-03208-5